A photovoltaic module is an electronic component which, exposed to light, produces electricity. Such a photovoltaic module typically comprises several electrically connected photovoltaic cells. Each cell includes at least one photo-active material, i.e., able to produce electricity from light. Such a material is for example an organic semiconductor.
A photovoltaic module of the aforementioned type is described in document U.S. Pat. No. 7,932,124. Each cell of such a photovoltaic module is formed by a stack of strips, including a photo-active layer between two electrodes, said stack of strips being positioned on a substrate.
Such a stack, called active area, is separated into adjacent active areas by a so-called inactive area. Said inactive area allows electric isolation of the lower electrodes of two adjacent cells while connecting the upper electrode of each cell to the lower electrode of an adjacent cell. A photovoltaic module is obtained by forming several cells thus connected in series.
Generally, in large-scale production methods, the layers of stacks are made using a wet method, i.e., by depositing a liquid formulation followed by a passage to the solid state.
The performance of the photovoltaic module in particular involves producing the narrowest possible inactive areas, to maximize the size of the active areas. However, the rheological and wettability properties of the formulations, as well as the physical properties of the substrates, impose minimum widths for the inactive areas. In particular, wet depositions cause edge effects on the strips.
The layers of the stack forming each cell in document U.S. Pat. No. 7,932,124 are in particular made with decreasing widths, so as to arrange a stair-stepped lateral offset. Such a production method makes it more complex to implement through large-scale production methods and contributes to decreasing the size of the active areas.